Tuesday, July 3

I've Been Tagged. Twice.

Memes have been flying everywhere lately, and I've recently been hit by two of them.

The lovely Shn of Mishmash would like me to share 7 random things about myself:

1. I’ve never eaten a Twinkie or a Devil Dog. Can I still call myself American?

2. I’ve been a vegetarian for almost 20 years. Not because of political or religious reasons. Because of bad chicken.

3. My first job was working at a sandwich shop. My manager almost fired for making the sandwiches “too big.” He obviously was not Italian.

4. I have an abnormal fear of the Wicked Witch from The Wizard of Oz. To this day, I cannot watch it because of her. Seriously.

5. I love the NFL. I’m still not sure what a“corner” does, but I do know that Tom Brady of the Patriots is one fine quarterback.

6. Fathers do know best. My father first met my husband, Jeff, when Jeff and I were in the 9th grade together. My dad wanted me to go to my freshman semi-formal dance with Jeff, which I thought was weird. (I mean, who would go with a boy that their Dad hooked them up with?) Jeff and I just celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. OK, Dad, you were right.

7. Jeff and I have moved seven times in 12 years. We’re in San Diego now. What’s not to love about it? It was ranked #2 best weather in the world after The Canary Islands. Not too shabby. Plus, I don’t think The Canary Islands have an NFL team.

What were you doing 10 years ago?I was in graduate school at Brown University.

Five snacks you enjoy:Frozen bananas with peanut butterPopcorn with Splenda and cinnamonHummus and carrotsGranny Smith apples and roasted almondsProtein shakes

Five songs you know all the lyrics to:None. I’m hopeless.

Five things you would do if you were a millionaire:Spend a week in the Canary Islands, just to see what number 1 is like.Buy a set of Wusthof knives.Buy a winery for my Dad. It might even convince him to retire.Invent a computer that would never crash, or lose my files, or be mean to me.Design high heels that don’t hurt. Plus, I’d make many more millions that way.

Five bad habits:Snapping my gum. Yup, I’m one of those annoying gum snappers.Taking waaay too many pictures to end up with just a couple for my posts.Changing my -er's to -a's and my -a's to -er's at the end of words, like food blogga, get the idear?Feeling weird about imposing on people by tagging them for memes (which I’m trying to overcome today).Sometimes rooting for both teams in football. I just like a good game.

Five things you like doing:Working out with my husband. One of these days I’m going to bench press as much as he does. OK, I’ll never bench press as much as he does, but a girl’s gotta have goals.Going home to Rhode Island in the fall. The foliage, the weather, the apple-picking -- it doesn't get better than that.Eating the crust off of pizza (including Jeff's pieces). Everybody knows that’s the best part. This might actually be a bad habit, depending on who you ask.Going to the San Diego Zoo; it’s amazing.Reading The New Yorker

Five things you would never wear again:Shoulder pads - I just do more lateral raises....Blue eyelinerA pink sweat suit that said LEE in big letters across the front of the sweatshirt. In 7th grade I wore it one time and was told, "you look like you fell into a pool of Pepto-Bismal." I never wore it again.A t-shirt that said, “You Toucha This Shirt, I Breaka You Face.” Yes, I had one, as did every other Italian adolescent in RI in the ‘80s. (Wait, I’m mistaken; Jeff just said that he didn’t have one.)Leopard print anything. Only Adrianna from The Soprano's could pull it off.

Five favorite toys:Atari (I was the undisputed Pac-Man champion until an untimely left thumb injury ended my career)Jigsaw puzzles, the bigger the betterLite-Brite (I thought I was Andy Warhol)Slinky - kept me occupied for hoursScrabble

I’m always hesitant about tagging others, but if you’ve got the time and interest, then feel free to play along. Since I’m supposed to tag five people for each, here are 10. You can select one or both memes to which you’d like to respond, then tag five more bloggers. I tag the following people:

Susan, enjoyed reading your memes. It's not a direct connection but your Fact #6 reminded me of this line from a movie, Grease, I think, where one girl tells another the only men you can truly believe in are your dad and grandad! LOL!I love Scrabble too. That lobsta is huge, about 20 pounds?

oy, why did us ri-landers have such terrible tshirts. i had one that i wore everyday like it was my uniform that said in a shiny abnoxious press-on 'Tin Grins are In!' - and of course i had a mouth full of metal. no wonder feicia abercrombie picked on mee..... :) (GRINZ)

Hahaha, great answers!! I'm glad to have found another gum-snapper, I've never seen anyone do it other than me and my ma, and we always get weird looks when we go shopping and are chewing gum (hail the chorus of snaps!).

And HOLY MACKAREL - Where on earth did you find a lobster that freakin' huge?

I loved reading your lists! If you're ever going to have a Twinkie, make it a deep-fried Twinkie- they sell them in downtown Las Vegas (in that covered walkway mall thingie whose name I'm forgetting), and they are more luscious than a Twinkie has any right to be. Two Americana birds with one stone: Twinkies and deep-fried!

Like you, the first time I went vegetarian was due to a bad experience with chicken. Not good times.

Susan - As a born in Rhode Island guy, who also claims New Hampsha as home, the sight of that lobstah brings back memories. (I live in WI now, so see them only rarely in their natural state!) I'd have to say that one pictured would be in the 12-14 pound range. Personally, I never liked lobster bigger than 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds (chix). Big ones like this have a tendency of being on the tough side. Was in NH 2 weeks ago, and managed to enjoy some steamahs and stuffed quahogs.

Susan,You've done a beautiful answering on both these memes!I can tell you the Canary Islands are truely wonderful. # 1 I always have a hard time with. It seems unlikely anything can be #1 really. Still the Canarys are fabulous and I'd love to return!As much as I'd like to do the memes, I'm experiencing some technical difficulties at the moment that make it just impossible. Maybe we can both get over our discomfort about the tagging expecially if you'll be ok if I must pass on this one.

The witch in The Wizard of Oz is actually only on screen for 12 minutes. That's how powerful her character was. And Margaret Hamilton, who played the witch, didn't let her own child see the movie for years, so you're in good company!

In a related note, Laurel and Hardy shot a never-aired film of the skinny Stan Laurel beating the tar out of Oliver Hardy so Laurel could show it to his kids. It apparently really troubled them that their dad was always being beaten up and berated by that mean man.

Woo hoo - pink clothes in the 80s! LOL. Why did we think it was such a great idea?! I was more of an Atari Space Invaders girl myself - but PacMan was good too ;-) Thanks for the tag - I've done a couple of randonm things memes before but never the "5 things" one, so I'll do that one if you don't mind.